1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cellular phone set having a self-timer photographing function and, more specifically, to a cellular phone set that permits a person to be photographed to recognize a photographing timing easily.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a camera-attached cellular phone set provided with a photographing function has been used widely. In this camera-attached cellular phone set, generally, a lens for photographing is provided on a rear surface of a body of the cellular phone set, so that a photographer, when photographing a person, directs the rear surface of the body of the cellular phone set toward the subject to be photographed and presses a shutter (keyboard) at an appropriate timing as observing the subject on a main display section provided on its front surface, thereby photographing the subject.
Conventionally, in self-timer photographing by use of this camera-attached cellular phone set, a person to be photographed is permitted to recognize a photographing timing by gradually speeding up blinking of an accessory LED of the cellular phone set or emitting sound. However, a change in blinking speed of the LED portion cannot accurately notify a person to be photographed of a photographing timing. Further, generally, in self-timer photographing, a camera is distant from a subject to be photographed by several meters or more, so that a photographing timing cannot possibly be communicated by sound in a noisy place, etc.
Japanese Patent Application KOKAI (Unexamined) Publication No. 1995-333710 discloses a technology by which an electronic still camera comprises photographing section for photographing an image optically, display section provided movably so that its display screen may be directed toward a photographer, and timer section for measuring elapsed time when a self-timer is operating, in such a configuration that display of an image photographed by the photographing section on the display section is stopped when the self-timer is operating to display on the display section elapsed time measured by the timer section as an image visually recognizable by a person to be photographed, so that even when the person to be photographed is present in a noisy place or far away from an installation location of the electronic still camera, he can recognize a photographing timing easily.
In the case of an electronic still camera, whose main function is photographing, by arranging a camera section and a display section independently of each other, the display section can be made movable relatively easily in configuration. However, in the case of a cellular phone set provided with a photographing function, whose main function is a portable telephone function, it is impractical to make movable a positional relationship between a photographing lens provided as an accessory function on a rear surface of the body of the cellular phone set and a display section provided on its front surface for keyboard operations because a mechanism required for this purpose becomes complicated or the cellular phone set becomes large in size and inconvenient for portability.